RJ shook out his fur, as a cold drop splashed his nose. He had taken shelter in an old abandoned shed, not to close but not too far from his supposed ex-family and their little patch of forest. The raccoon may have made amends with Verne, but he didn't want Vincent to even get a slight wisp of knowledge about that. RJ had to protect them, since it was his fault in the first place for getting into this situation.

But he had hope.

Back to the rain, he thought, miserably looking up at the broken roof, full of holes and even more so of wind and drafts. He shifted his position carefully, making sure he was underneath a scrap of roof so he was decently dry.

He slowly curled his tail around his hind legs, curling up as he savoured the little warmth he had.

The raccoon had to admit knowing his situation wasn't completely dismal made him less weary, however not entirely comforted him, as he felt another large raindrop plop on the edge of his arm. RJ sighed, huddling closer to the wall of the shed, proceeding to close his eyes tightly, trying to imagine the soft bodies of Hammy, Stella, Tiger, everyone in his family. He tried to pretend he was back at home in the log, instead of stranded in a ghost shed. Maybe that would comfort him a little.

"RJ? You in here?"

Wow, the sleepy mammal thought, my imagination sure is good.

"RJ?" said raccoon's eyes snapped open as he realized it wasn't his imagination. "There you are!" RJ turned around to the entrance, only just to feel a furry, red ball of fury dig into his side.

"Woah, Hammy careful!"

"Sorry," the squirrel mumbled, stepping back from his death grip. RJ just grinned, as he saw Verne walk up behind Hammy.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to find you. I had a feeling that you might need proper shelter, and I remembered that shed you mentioned so I came to look for you here. Hammy just wouldn't quit pleading me, so he tagged along," Verne explained, sitting down next to his friend. The red squirrel plopped down beside him, staring thoughtfully at the sky as he felt a drop on his ear. It made him wonder how something so fluffy like a cloud could contain something so wet as water.

Must be like a sponge, he concluded, looking back at Verne.

"I didn't want you to feel lonely in this weather," the turtle concluded, making RJ smile lightly.

"Awwww, you do care!" he cooed to Verne, who just rolled his eyes to the heavens.

"Aaaaand he's back," the turtle grinned, as Hammy innocently looked up at the two.

"Who's back?" he cocked his head, as the two friends just stared back at him.

"Don't worry, Hammy," Verne rolled his eyes, as RJ leaned back against the shed wall, humming as he listened to the rain drip onto the broken roof and metal. The raccoon closed his eyes, as Hammy tried to press who was back.

"Why are your bandages off?" RJ's eyes opened a crack, to look down at a concerned Verne once again.

"Wellllll, I would have left them on, but do you think it would go right under Vincent's nose?" the raccoon reasoned, sitting back up as he watched Hammy zip around, exploring the shed for the someone who was back.

"You really should keep them on when you are taking the food, though," the turtle pressed, making RJ sniff. Won't he ever stop worrying?

"Look, I'm fine. See?" RJ indicated the scar on his chest, which had covered over so that it wasn't gaping open anymore. "Also, I'll be in even more pain if he sees I am tending to myself. This may seem extreme but I have a hunch that he wouldn't want me to repay the debt quickly. He'll want me to repay it slowly, over a good time. He was already off to who knows where when I dropped the food of, and I don't like what he's planning,"

"Hey, I found the animal who's back!" Hammy waved back at the two Hedgies from the doorway (if you could call it that) of the shed.

The two shared a glance, proceeding to go up to the squirrel who bounced around in excitement at his discovery.

"Right here! Say hello to- what's your name again?" the squirrel inquired to the infuriated Shane, who's eyes were narrowed and staring directly at RJ, making the raccoon's blood run cold and his heart freeze to ice. RJ's eyes widened as Shane spat out his name at Hammy, walking up to the raccoon menacingly. The raccoon felt Verne freeze beside him in surprise, and a quick glance looked like he wanted to fade down into his shell and never reappear. RJ, though, didn't have one, as much as he wanted to follow suite.

"Well what to do we have here? A party, and I wasn't invited? Skinny I'm hurt!" he drawled, staring RJ down despite his size.

"Well, there wasn't enough room," was the raccoon's weak retort, as he edged a little backwards, trying to get away from the weasel.

"Ha ha, I see your humour is also in tack. No matter, that stream'll run dry when Vincent hears who you've been partying with," the weasel hissed, turning tail and scurrying away from the shed.

"This doesn't sound good," Verne muttered, as RJ took after the departing rodent, whilst Hammy just stood there staring around the place.

"Shane wait! I can explain!" the raccoon pulled the weasel by the tail, stopping him in his tracks.

"It better be one hell of an explanation Skinny! Or else those things are road kill," Shane yanked his tail away from RJ's outstretched paws, wincing as he rubbed it gingerly.

"Okay, alright," the grey mammal took a breath, as the inside of his cheek worriedly.

"I wasn't hanging out, with them, and most definitely not having a party,"

"Don't ya know what sarcasm is?" Shane growled, however RJ ignored this.

"I was simply," he raked his brain for a reasonable explanation, or more less lie. Either way was okay, as long as he got one, and fast, as he saw Shane eye him critically.

"Simply what?"

"I-"

"Throat gone dry? Or is it your brain?" Shane snickered at RJ's lost train of thought. The raccoon just couldn't come up with a cover up quote, as if he was racing after something that he could never catch.

"We were just chasing him, as we had just cornered him in the shed," a voice said behind the two, and RJ's head twirled around to see Verne, standing there looking a tad bit awkward at the lie. The raccoon flashed him a grateful smile, knowing the turtle must have just caught on to the gist of what was happening. Shane, however, didn't look convinced, eyebrows raised, prompting Verne to continue.

"He had, just tried to steal our food, so we raced after this, vermin. Such a sneak, you little…" Verne dwindled, as he ran out of insults. RJ inwardly winced at how badly the lie sounded.

"As convincing as that sounds," Shane said, arms crossed in front of his chest, as he glanced back at RJ with a whole lot of venom. The raccoon shuddered, and it was not from the continues and endless rain that poured down on the animals.

"I was there to hear your concernment how Skinny wasn't taking his 'meds'," the weasel made air quotation marks, making Hammy follow with his eyes.

"Look, Shane, I swear if you tell Vincent I'll-!"

"You'll what, R-JJJ?" the rodent pressed, turning around so he was facing his main victim again. "Ya gonna hurt me, kill me, torture me? Now that is a laugh! The skinniest raccoon in history making empty threats to someone like me, a bear with a grudge on his side. And you know what Vincent's gonna do if he finds out I'm dead? He's gonna beat your skinny hide till your fur turns red!" Shane cried, a little hysterically, as he backed RJ against the cold shed, which was gleaming in the moonlight like a knife. If only it were to be a knife. The sky rumbled slightly, not helping to the atmosphere.

"Shane please! If there's anything I could do I would do it, as long as you don't tell Vincent about…" he gestured to them "this," This made the weasel pause, staring thoughtfully as his ear flicked a raindrop off.

"Anything," his grin widened, as his eyes cleared of the anger.

"A-anything," RJ gulped, not knowing if this would lead to more pain in the long term. He started to regret it, as Shane pulled back, his menacing nature never leaving his side.

"Well, in that case. Double my share of the food. You'll store it in that little picnic place, behind the night guards office, and every fortnight we'll meet there with all my goodies. And if I keep my mouth shut about this," the weasel added, "you keep your mouth shut about my extra food. Got it?" RJ's head nodded numbly, not sure if this deal was worth it anymore. But he kept silent, as Shane's head lazily nodded, the rodent starting to walk away.

"Nice. See ya around, Skinny! Great doing business with ya!" and with that, his sleek tail was gone, into the night, leaving a depressed turtle and an even more depressed raccoon. Hammy, well let's just say he didn't understand what had just happened, as was trying to figure out if the moon was made of cheese.

"Auggh!" RJ moaned, thudding his head against the shed, and slowly sliding down to the floor so that his feet were splayed out.

"What did I just get myself into," he whispered, mostly to himself, as Verne walked over to his, patting the raccoon on the shoulder sympathetically.

"A lot of trouble," the turtle sat down, as his happy mood slowly dwindled away at RJ's newfound despair.

"How am I going to do this?" he groaned to Verne, making the turtle sigh deeply.

"I really don't know. We can help, but… Well, it'll take a while," Verne murmured, as he tried to sum up all that RJ owed. All he knew at this point in time was that he needed a calculator. And a whole lot of will power, strength and food, just to get them through this.

And that they had just hopped from the frying pan into the oven.

Hello! What is up mah friends? Probably not much, since I haven't updated in a while, and I'm sorry. I will try and update as much as I can, but it is hard. I have 2 of my own stories running, and yeah... You don't need to know my problems!

Well, I hope you guys liked this chapter, and yeah, Shane why?!

Anywho, this fic is really fun to write, and I am trying to keep its style as close to cadd9's as I can, but trust me when I say it is hard.

I hope you liked it, and until next time, Peace Out!